I still wake up and think, ‘Oh shit, I have cancer.'"
Normally, I bleep out the curse words when penning this column. Usually, they aren’t really pertinent to the story, so I go with the path of not wanting to add any more vulgarity to an already overly crude society.
Today isn’t one of those days. And that quote isn’t one of those quotes.
The words George Karl uttered yesterday during the press conference in which he announced that he had been diagnosed with neck and throat cancer shouldn’t be watered down. And they shouldn’t be softened. Because sometimes, those types of terms are the only ones that do the situation justice.
“Cancer is a bitch to have,” Karl went on to say yesterday during an emotional Q&A with the media gathered at Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, during which the Nuggets head coach held back tears on more than one occasion.
Already a cancer survivor, having beaten back prostate cancer in the summer of 2005, Karl would know. Add in the fact that his son, Coby, fought off thyroid cancer in 2006, and the coach and his family have more experience with the dreaded disease than anyone should have to face.
Now having been diagnosed with squamous cell cancer in his neck and throat, Karl is set to do battle once again. He’s facing six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy treatments, a daunting task for anyone.
What will that mean? Only time will tell. There will certainly be times when Karl won’t be able to be around the team. He may miss practices. And he may miss some games. In his absence, Tim Grgurich – arguably the best assistant coach in the NBA – will run the show, and Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley will man the bench during the games.
That might be a temporary situation. It might be fairly regular. But at the end of the day, that’s all fairly trivial. It just doesn’t matter.
Neither do some of the other soap operas that have surrounded the Nuggets in recent years. J.R. Smith pouting on the bench because he didn’t get enough minutes? That doesn’t seem like such a big deal after all. Nagging injuries that have sidelined Kenyon Martin, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups at various times during the first half of the season? They’ll all heal in due time.
The battles on the horizon don’t seem as important, either. Can the Nuggets hold off Utah and Portland in the Northwest Division? It’d be nice, but it’s not really that big of a deal. Can Denver take an additional step this postseason and knock off the Lakers? That’d be a thrilling ride, but one that would ultimately be fleeting.
It all seems kind of trivial, doesn’t it? The things that normally cause so much consternation just don’t seem all that important today.
Yesterday’s announcement by Karl served as a sobering reminder that sports truly are nothing more than a pastime. They are a diversion, something that is meant to take our minds off of the day-to-day grind of life. They aren’t the be-all, end-all, monumental moments that they too often mushroom into.
In reality, there are plenty of battles in life that are more important than a division race. There are certainly fights that are much more crucial to win than the Western Conference Finals. And Karl, a guy who has helped bring a ton of joyous moments to Nuggets fans, is currently facing one such struggle.
“I’m ready for the challenge,” the coach said about his upcoming showdown with cancer. “I’m ready for the competition.”
I wouldn’t bet against him. He certainly sounds like a guy who is ready for a fight.
“I don’t think I’m a guy who needs sympathy, but I do need support,” Karl added. “The major desire for me is to kick this cancer’s butt and also stay with a team that I think can win a championship.”
Now, that’s something worth rooting for.
